


long-term impacts of oceanic travel

by Rustyanklebraclet



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Gen, Getting Together, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Slash, background jeff/dean and annie/britta but its very minor, britta cant spell and shes infintely sexier for it, i dont know how to tag this, wlw shirley because i said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24793852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rustyanklebraclet/pseuds/Rustyanklebraclet
Summary: in four years (and the four years proceeding them), texts are sent, letters are written, bets are won, and troy takes a trip around the world.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Shirley Bennett/Original Female Character(s), Troy Barnes & Annie Edison, Troy Barnes & Shirley Bennett, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 43
Kudos: 176





	long-term impacts of oceanic travel

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline jumps around a bit and is kinda vague for two equally important reasons.
> 
> 1) I don’t understand boat travel. Or any travel. i have never even left this half of the province. so i did my best but google maps doesnt calculate boat travel and i couldnt find an alternative.
> 
> 2) i'm gay (bi) and do what i want.
> 
> Also its sort of part of the formatting?? Idk. this fic is really experimental. Its basically just a smorgasbord of all this shit ive been trying to do but didnt know how. Feel like that picture of the guy on that british baking show (is it michael sheen?) where he says “started making it. had a breakdown. bon appetit.”. the title of this doc before i came up with a proper title was literally just "i don't know what the fuck this is"
> 
> ok. enjoy, i guess.

Troy Barnes buys a journal every time they stop.

Okay, so maybe LeVar doesn’t know for a fact that he buys one  _ every _ time, because they don’t usually spend a lot of time together once they’ve docked.

But LeVar usually sees him buy one at some point. Plus, they were delayed almost an hour in a small town in Panama because Troy didn’t show up when they were set to leave, and “I couldn’t find a notebook” was his only explanation.

“What do you do with all of those?” he asks him, as they’re leaving Montevideo, and Troy is about to take, among other things, a small green notebook downstairs before they set off.

“What? The journals?”

LeVar nods, and Troy looks slightly embarrassed as he explains.

“Oh, uh, they’re kind of like letters? When I get off the boat, the first thing I see that reminds me of someone I know, I fill a book up like I'm writing to that person.”

LeVar nods. It’s actually pretty sweet. He had wondered if Troy just wanted to spend money on something.

“Do you mail them?”

Troy shakes his head. “I'll probably give them to them when I get back. I don’t want to send one person a full book of letters and not send anyone else anything.”

LeVar nods again, and Troy leaves to put his stuff away. That kid keeps surprising him.

-

**Annie Edison, Britta Perry**

**_Annie Edison:_** can’t believe i’m about to ask this

 ** _Annie Edison:_** i need you to do psych-y stuff

**_Britta Perry:_ ** omg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**_Britta Perry:_ ** yes!!!!!!!!!!

**_Britta Perry:_ ** ic na com ovr????

**_Britta Perry:_ ** r we cn do ovr tha phne?????

**_Annie Edison:_ ** please turn on your autocorrect. i’ve shown you how more than once. i feel like it’s deliberate, at this point.

**_Britta Perry:_ ** ;)

**_Annie Edison:_ ** anyways. it’s for abed.

**_Britta Perry:_ ** nope

**_Britta Perry:_ ** l ast tyme he tied 2 cut of jeffs ram

**_Britta Perry:_ ** not goin dwn that rd agn

**_Annie Edison:_ ** seriously. it makes me nauseous to read.

**_Annie Edison:_ ** and please??? you know what day it is today. he won’t even come out of his room and i’m getting worried.

**_Britta Perry:_ ** i thot tht wsa tover that aftr th caymaton ting

**_Annie Edison:_ ** what are you talking about??

**_Britta Perry:_ ** remeber?? xmas 2010?? heh ad a psycotic brk????????????

**_Annie Edison:_ ** what? no.

**_Annie Edison:_ ** like yeah that is december 9th

**_Annie Edison:_ ** which probably isn’t helping since they’re less than a week apart

**_Annie Edison:_ ** but thats not what i’m talking about

**_Britta Perry:_ ** thn ???????

**_Annie Edison:_ ** it’s december fourth.

**_Britta Perry:_ ** yea???

**_Annie Edison:_ ** troy’s birthday???

**_Britta Perry:_ ** o fuck

**_Annie Edison:_ ** but the curse, she spells just fine

**_Annie Edison:_ ** wait, weren’t you guys literally dating during his birthday??

**_Annie Edison:_ ** sorry, day of expulsion**

**_Britta Perry:_ ** didnt com up

**_Annie Edison:_ ** it’s so weird your relationship didn’t last.

-

Rachel has been through her fair share of bad breakups, but this might be the worst.

Abed's actually being super nice. She thinks that’s the biggest issue.

She’s sitting here, in his apartment, and it’s just occurred to her that the hot girl Abed lives with never had any reason to be a concern of hers. The guy in all the pictures that nobody (least of all Abed) will talk about is.

So he’s talking to her, and it's probably actually a really good speech that he’s practiced a lot because he doesn’t want to upset her (that’s the thing about Abed that she thinks people probably don’t get. He’s actually a really nice guy. He does hurtful things, sometimes, but she can’t name a single time he’s been deliberately malicious.) and she’s just staring at a ring on the coffee table and going over all the times in her head that this realization should have punched her directly in the face.

_How terribly heteronormative of you_ , she can hear Marilyn, her self-proclaimed “lesbian messiah” of an older sister, saying in her head, and she has to agree.

_ - _

_ Annie, _

_ I bought this because there was a monkey right by where we docked, and I remembered the monkey that I'm not going to name because I'm probably somewhere nearby when you’re reading this and I don't want you to hit me with this book. This thing is solid. You’re welcome, future Troy. _

_ Actually, I think if I’m following my own rules, this book should be for the monkey. But I don’t even know how I would get it to him, assuming he could read (can monkeys read by the time I give you this? that would be so cool.) _

_ Anyways, I miss you. Don’t tell the others, but I think I miss you (and Abed) the most. _

_ I’ll write more later. I love you. _

_ Troy. _

-

Frankie Dart’s sexual preference is nobody's business but her own. She tries not to concern herself with the preference of others, hoping that they will extend the same courtesy. They rarely do.

But, sometimes, her curiosity gets the best of her.

She assumes Annie to be her best bet for an answer, an equal balance of common courtesy and an affinity for gossip. Someone that will tell her the truth, but be discreet.

She catches up to her in the hall one evening. Most students are leaving, and the ones that aren’t are tired and not paying attention.

“Annie!” she calls, from a few feet away. Annie stops, and turns to her with a curious look as Frankie briskly walks towards her.

“Is everything alright?” Annie asks. Frankie still isn’t sure that Annie likes her. it doesn't  _ technically _ matter, she knows that. But she still secretly wants her to.

“Yeah, I just had a question.”

“Is this about the guy living in the freezer? Because Chang keeps telling me that he’s going to deal with it, and he was the only one that could deal with the last one. He’s basically fluent in crazy. So at this point, it’s more a matter of motivating him than it is-”

“No, it’s not about that. But that does need to be dealt with, actually, so just put a pin in it and remind me tomorrow.”

“Oh,” says Annie, shifting “What is it?”

“It’s actually more of an... interpersonal question. I'm just trying to get a feel for the dynamic I'm coming into.”

Annie frowns. “Is this about the Dean and Jeff? there’s already a betting pool, but I’m sure you can join it if you’d like.”

“What? no. But I’d actually like to come back to that, because a romantic relationship between them would definitely violate board policy. They could lose their jobs.” she shakes her head, getting herself back on track “No, it’s about the guy that you all keep mentioning. Troy?”

Annie’s expression shifts incrementally. “What about him?”

“He was...” Frankie pauses, not sure how to put it delicately in case she’s wrong (though she’s almost certain she’s not) “He was Abed’s boyfriend, right?”

Annie barks out a laugh, but the smile drops slightly when she sees that Frankie is serious.

“Not at all. They were best friends, and people used to joke about it sometimes, but they were platonic.”

“Huh.” says Frankie, lost in thought “I’ve just never seen a guy talk about a former friend like that. And I’ve never seen Abed in a serious relationship. The only thing is the girlfriend that you guys told me about, but nobody seemed to even have an explanation as to why they broke up.”

She’s thinking out loud, lost in trying to figure out where her theory went wrong. but she realizes that Annie is standing stock-still in front of her, eyes comically wide.

“Annie? Are you alright?”

Annie turns to her, not blinking. Frankie is slightly afraid.

“Oh my god,” she whispers to herself.

-

Abed is laying on the floor of his dorm. Jeff is on the couch, sitting quietly as Abed spills secret after secret.

The revelation that Abed gets even moderately drunk and his filter becomes even more nonexistent than when he’s sober had been vaguely interesting to Jeff at the start of the night. He soon realized, however, that Abed really doesn’t have any secrets, about himself or others.

There is the occasional “deep” revelation, details about his childhood and his internal emotions and other things like that. If he had any intention of manipulating Abed, plenty of this would be prime material. But he doesn’t, so he’s just letting Abed ramble because he doesn’t see the point in stopping him.

“I’m in love with Troy, I think. Well, not totally in love with him. I’m only, like 70% of the way there. But I think I will be by the end of the season.”

Secrets both Jeff and the better half of the campus already knows aren’t interesting or helpful either.

-

Troy didn’t use social media that much back in Colorado. It wasn’t really his thing. But now that he basically has no way of seeing his friends, except through the occasional grainy skype call, he’s changed his mind.

Annie posts a picture, one day. Her and Abed are dressed up all fancy, she’s got an arm around his neck and he’s leaning down so she can kiss his cheek.

_ love this dork <3 _ , the caption reads.

LeVar Burton sees him looking at the photo.

“Cute couple,” he says, “They your friends?”

“Yeah,” says Troy, turning to face him as he pockets his phone “They’re not a couple, though.”

LeVar shrugs. “had me fooled.”

Troy spends the next three days having something of a breakdown.

He calls Annie, on the fourth day. They’re only stopped for a few hours, and it takes him ten minutes to figure out the payphone, but he punches in Annie's number when he finally does.

“Hello?”

“Annie?”

“Oh my god, Troy! Hi! How are you?”

“I’m good. I’m really good. How are things with you?”

“Oh, you know. The same. Not travelling the world by sea with a celebrity.”

He feels bad, and he loves hearing her voice, but he called her for a reason and he doesn’t know how much time he has.

“I heard about you and Abed.”

“Huh?”

“Well, I didn’t hear about it. I saw your picture.”

“What?”

“I’m really happy for you guys.”

“Troy, what are you- are you talking about the one from the gala?”

“What gala?”

“That’s a different story. We played secret paintball. It was a thing.”

“Secret paintball? that sounds awesome.”

“Meh. It was fine.”

They've gotten derailed, Troy shakes away his disappointment, and gets them back on track.

“Anyways, you and Abed.”

“Me and Abed.”

“You guys are really cute together.”

“Troy, what are you talking about? We’re not together.”

Troy opens his mouth to respond, but there’s a beeping as the call ends. He realizes that there’s a tidal wave of relief crashing over him at Annie's words.

He thinks about what that means, and has another breakdown.

-

Britta misses her friends. A lot.

Jeff and Frankie are still around. So are the dean and chang, who are sort of her friends now. Which is weird, but she’s more or less accepted it.

Annie and Shirley call plenty. Abed calls far less (she calls him, mostly). She hasn’t heard Troy's voice in months, but they text when he can (he’s on a boat, though. The last time they talked he was in Bangkok, which is way cool. She’s not mad about it.). She wasn’t that close with Elroy to begin with, so she doesn’t really talk to him, but she’s alright with it.

So it’s not like she’s totally isolated, but she still misses them.

Which means that when Annie texts her to say that she's coming up for a week to visit, she genuinely squeals. Walter gives her a one-eyed look of judgement.

She has to work, so Annie just comes in during her shift. Britta hugs her so tight she thinks she may have cracked a rib.

It’s a slow night, and Annie is just sitting at the bar, nursing her drink while they talk. There’s a lull in the conversation, and Annie stares intently into her glass as she traces the rim of it with her nail.

“You okay?” Britta asks, and Annie nods without looking up.

“Yeah, yeah. I am. I just… can I ask you something?”

Britta nods. “Yeah, always.”

“You remember what Troy and Abed were like, right?”

She snorts “who doesn’t?”

Annie doesn’t laugh, just continues. “Did you ever think… I mean, we all used to joke about it sometimes. And I know it was different for you because you dated Troy and all, but did you ever wonder if they… you know...”

“If they what?”

“If they were, like…” she pauses. “In love? Like, romantically?”

Britta’s a little taken aback. Her first instinct is to deny, to argue for their strong male friendship and call Annie homophobic for insinuating that it’s impossible for two guys to just be close. But it occurs to her that if Annie, the one who knows the two of them the best (outside of each other, of course), is so unsure, then she sure as hell is in no place to be deciding that.

“I… don’t know,” she says, slowly, honestly, after a moment has passed.

Annie nods, and downs the rest of her drink in one go.

-

**Britta Perry, Troy Barnes**

**_Britta Perry:_ ** gues wht

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** chicken butt

**_Britta Perry:_ ** lol

**_Britta Perry:_ ** no but u gota guss

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** the monkey came backk

**_Britta Perry:_ ** no

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** this game doenst seem far

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** fair**

**_Britta Perry:_ ** wht is th poin in coreccting only 1 mistka

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** shhhh

**_Britta Perry:_ ** anywyas

**_Britta Perry:_ ** shirley gt maried agan!!!

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** rly??

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** andre??

**_Britta Perry:_ ** u interputed me

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** sorry contine

**_Britta Perry:_ ** so anyewa shirley n he r WIFEE r VRY happy tghther

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** ??????? lol

**_Britta Perry:_ ** no it ist a jo ke

**_Britta Perry:_ ** she cam tp vist and was like “btw i'm bringins my spiuse”

**_Britta Perry:_ ** n we wre like “were hving a ietrvention ifi ts andre”

**_Britta Perry:_ ** rhe showa up with this SMOKIn lady n wre like ???????

**_Britta Perry:_ ** wtf????

**_Britta Perry:_ ** n shes like “yeh just btw”

**_Britta Perry:_ ** n thn jeff n th dean wre liek “gud a tim e as ny 2 anonunce wre banging”

**_Britta Perry:_ ** it wsa a fun dinnner

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** who won the pool ??/

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** (4 jeff n the dean)

**_Britta Perry:_ ** who di u thiank

**_Troy Barnes:_ ** annie ?

**_Britta Perry:_ ** duh

-

LeVar Burton is many things, but he is not an idiot. and he’s seen enough lovestruck fools (hell, he’s  _ been _ the lovestruck fool) to recognize one when he sees one.

Especially when he’s spent almost two years on a boat with one.

He figured it out a few months ago, and elected to just ignore it unless Troy brought it up first. But he’s spent a week sighing at his phone, and he’s writing in his most recent letter journal more than LeVar has ever seen him do. So he breaches the subject late one night, on the deck of the ship.

“Tell me about her,” he says, and Troy turns to him, confused.

“About who?”

“The girl you’re in love with. Tell me about her. We’ve got time.”

Troy is quiet, for a moment, then:

“It’s not a girl.‘

_ Oh. _

“Alright, then tell me about the guy.”

Troy looks at LeVar with a sheepish smile, and he starts to talk.

-

Alisa doesn’t consider herself a particularly social person. But the new guy sets a whole new bar, one that makes her introverted tendencies pale in comparison.

But they kind of have to work together, they’re writing  _ partners _ . And slowly, she thinks he’s opening up.

It’s been six months, now. Just last week, he initiated a non-work related conversation for the first time. It’s going well, she thinks.

Of course, she has to jinx herself.

“Do you want to grab dinner together? I know this great noodle place.”

He gives her an enthusiastic nod, and then pauses.

“Wait. Do you mean grab dinner as in eat dinner, or as in go on a date?”

Her eyes widen in surprise. “What? God, no. I’m engaged. To a woman.”

“Oh. alright, that's good. I’m not very good at rejecting people.”

“I figured you knew already. People tend to mark me as a lesbian within a minute of meeting me.”

He shrugs. “I’m not very good at interpreting things like that. I try to avoid it altogether.”

She nods, and they both collect their things. As they emerge onto the street, something occurs to her.

“Hey, are you busy this weekend?”

“No.”

“Okay, great. Do you want to go see a movie with me? It’s part of a franchise, but you don’t have to have seen the others. They’re these action movies that are so awful and cheesy in, like, the best way, but I can't get anyone to go with me.”

Abed seems to consider this, and then nods.

“Sure. What’s the franchise called?”

“Kickpuncher. But there’s literally like twenty of them, so-”

“Sorry, I just remembered I have plans this Saturday.”

“Oh,” Alisa knows when she’s being blown off. She’s not going to make it awkward and bring it up, but she doesn’t get why he said yes in the first place. “That’s cool. Noodles?”

“Sorry, I should get home.”

He turns and walks away, leaving her standing in front of the office building, mouth still open.

_ Shit, _ she thinks,  _ so much for progress. _

-

He sees him everywhere.

It’s never really  _ him _ , obviously.

There are strangers, sometimes. Tall and slim and wearing bright clothes that he catches in his peripheral that make him do a double-take. Cashiers with kind eyes as he fumbles with foreign money and nimble fingers handing him delicious foreign snacks with names he can’t pronounce.

And there are smaller things. Figures on the dashboard of a car. Mugs with cheap decals and posters with peeling corners and strangers overheard discussing movies when he’s somewhere English-speaking.

He has a rule about the notebooks. He can’t write the same person twice in a row.

Every other notebook is addressed to Abed.

-

Mariah is sick of this.

How many gay guys can one woman accidentally either date or almost date? There’s got to be a maximum. She doesn’t understand how she hasn’t hit it yet.

Thirteen. That’s how many times this has happened, since Adam Mingdon in sophomore year.

And now, here she is, at a dance at the shitty community college where she picked up a job, watching Troy walk away, realizing that it’s just become fourteen.

She mills around a bit, but it’s honestly sort of boring. She drains her punch, tosses the plastic cup into a trash can by the door, and walks out to her car.

She passes Troy and Abed in the hallway, Troy is hiding his face in Abed's chest.

“Just ignore her” she hears him mutter, as she walks by. She rolls her eyes, but it’s more to herself than the two of them. She’s not sure how she didn’t see it earlier, in the way that Troy was watching Abed talk. Straight guys don’t look at their bros like that.

-

_ Shirley, _

_ We’re in Norway now. It’s been almost four years. It’s insane to think about how close I am to getting home. _

_ Britta told me about Lorraine last month. We keep missing each other's Skype calls, so I haven’t talked to you about it yet, but I can’t wait to meet her! And the boys! They’re going to be so big when I get back. It’s weird to think about Ben as anything other than a slimy little baby in the anthropology classroom. _

_ I wish we could talk more. I’ve been thinking about so much, you were always so good at helping me clear my head. I miss that. LeVar is good to talk to sometimes, but it’s different. Elijah, Jordan, and Ben are lucky to have you. _

_ I still can’t wrap my head around this whole thing with Jeff and the dean. Logically, it honestly makes a lot of sense. But if I try to picture it my brain is just tv static. I don’t know, maybe it will make more sense when I get there. _

_ Love you, _

_ Troy. _

-

The terms of Peirce's will are that he needs to travel around the world on  _ the childish tycoon _ before he can collect his fortune.

The thing about Peirce, though, is that he’s managing to be a pain in the ass from beyond the grave.

Because, if he wants to actually qualify for the money, the boat needs to return  _ exactly _ to the place Troy first boarded it. Which is, of course,

“The parking lot of your community college?” LeVar asks him, when Troy explains it.

Troy nods, and LeVar just sighs.

“Alright. Then we’re headed for Colorado, I guess.”

The sun is rising in Newfoundland. They docked the night before, and they’re going to spend a few hours exploring, stretching their legs. But they’ll be gone, soon, in Maine by sunset the following day. And in Riverside before the end of the week.

Troy is excited to get home. Of course he is. But, for whatever reason, he almost doesn’t tell his friends he’s going to Greendale.

The keyword, there, is almost.

Annie calls him, just as they’re leaving Canada. It’s the first thing he says to her.

“Oh my god, what? Really?”

“Yeah. we just found out. I got a call from one of Pierce's lawyers. Apparently, he needs to oversee my return and was checking when that would be, since I'm back in North America.”

“Wait, so when  _ will _ that be?”

-

It’s short notice. Very short notice.

Troy doesn’t expect his friends to be there when he gets back. He could never ask that of them.

Jeff and Britta haven’t moved, so maybe he would be a  _ little _ hurt if they didn’t show up. But Annie is a big important FBI something-or-other (she’s explained her job to him plenty of times. He’s sort of given up trying to understand her title.), and Shirley has a wife and work and a general life to attend to, and Abed…

Well, Troy doesn’t exactly know about Abed.

They’ve spoken, of course. They used to skype whenever they could. But Abed moved to LA, moved on with his life. The last time Troy spoke to him directly was three months ago.

He gets a text from Annie, though. It’s early in the morning, and they’re just passing through Nebraska. She asks when he’s getting to Greendale.

_ idk,  _ he tells her,  _ probably around 2 _

_ ok ;) _

So, as the trailer carrying the boat pulls up in front of the library exit, he’s not surprised to see her, Britta’s arm slung around her shoulders with Jeff standing behind them. And he’s only slightly surprised to see Shirley, accompanied by a woman that must be Lorraine. The dean is there, too, hand intertwined with Jeff's, as is who he assumes is Frankie. Plus a stern-looking guy in a suit that’s definitely the lawyer he spoke to on the phone

But, standing at the front of the crowd, least expected of anyone, is Abed.

The rest of them (with the exception of the lawyer) are waving and cheering. Even Frankie and Lorraine, who Troy has never met. But Abed is just standing still, hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans.

The boat comes to a stop, and the lawyer holds up a hand.

“Sorry, folks. Just need to mark some things down as evidence that Mr. Barnes completed the trip before he disembarks.”

There’s a chorus of groans, and everyone is quiet as the man scribbles away in his binder, and snaps a few pictures. After a moment, he waves a hand to give Troy the all-clear as he steps back, and Troy can’t get off the boat fast enough.

The people he loves most in the world are all standing just a few feet away from him, and he sort of wants to just spend several hours hugging them. But he’s frozen in place, staring at Abed, feeling like they’re farther apart than they were the entirety of his trip around the world.

Jeff leans forward from where he’s standing at the back of the crowd. He murmurs something into Abed's ear, and gives him a little nudge. Abed takes a step forward, and before Troy knows what he’s doing, he’s running at Abed and crashing their mouths together.

His hands hold the sides of Abed’s face, and Abed’s come to the back of his neck. They separate, and Abed rests his forehead against Troy's.

“I love you,” Troy breathes out.

It doesn’t even seem to occur to Abed to Han Solo him

“I love you too.”

Abed kisses him again, but, after a moment, he feels a tap on his shoulder. He pulls back to see LeVar, who gestures to his group of friends, still standing (somewhat awkwardly) on the step of the library.

Everyone, except Frankie and Lorraine, runs over and crushes him a group hug.

-

It’s the start of summer, a week past the end of classes at Greendale. They shouldn’t even be on the campus, but the dean is making an exception that Frankie has been very clear is not his exception to make.

LeVar Burton leaves pretty soon after the reunion, after a goodbye that Troy freely admits makes him tear up.

The ten of them make their way to the study room. It feels wrong, though, to sit at the table, so they end up on the couches instead.

Abed is holding one of Troy’s arms, and doesn’t let go as Troy unloads the few dozen journals from his backpack. Troy thinks he would probably be okay if Abed never wanted to let go again.

They fly back to LA a week later.

“You’re sure your roommates are gonna be alright with me staying with you?” Troy asks, as he’s packing his things from the boat into his suitcase before they leave.

“I live alone. I think living with you and Annie gave me unrealistic standards for other people. You guys always got me. Everyone else I lived with was just annoyed. As soon as I had the money, I got my own place. It’s pretty small, but I don't have to get along with anyone else.”

Troy frowns a little at this, and leans up to kiss him.

They drive to the airport with Annie, Shirley, and Lorraine. Jeff, Britta, and the dean (everyone else calls him Craig, now, which Troy doesn’t think he’s ever going to adjust to.) come along to send them off.

“I feel like you just got back, and now you’re leaving again,” Annie says to him.

“I’m not leaving,” he tells her “just… going slightly further away.”

“We’ll get together as soon as we can,” says Britta “Troy is a gazillionaire. As far as I'm concerned, all Peirce bequeathed to him was a never-ending supply of plane tickets.”

-

It’s almost a year before they’re all in one place at the same time.

They see each other, obviously. Annie and Britta (who are together now. Which Abed says, with no bitterness, would make more sense to Troy if he had been around the past few years.) come up to LA for Christmas. And Abed and Troy stay at Shirley's for a weekend in October. Plus, they call each other constantly. But it’s not until mid-may that they manage to get organized enough to all be together at the same time.

They go back to Riverside. Even if most of them have relocated, it’s still home to all of them. Plus, they can all go back to Greendale and embarrass Jeff in front of his students, which is always a plus.

They all go out for dinner together on the first night. As they’re all parting ways to go back to their hotels (or Jeff's condo. Which is actually Jeff and  _ the dean’s _ condo. Troy is still having trouble processing it all.). When Troy sees Abed pull the dean aside and say something to him. The dean slips him something, and it's very clear that they’re both trying to be discreet. 

The problem, of course, is that the dean has never been subtle about anything in his life, and Abed isn’t much better.

“What was that about?” Troy asks, as Abed slips into the driver's seat of their rental.

“Nothing,” Abed hums “can we make a stop?”

Troy shrugs. “Sure. where?”

“It’s a surprise.”

They end up at Greendale. It turns out that what the dean had slipped him were the keys to the school, and they go in through the back entrance.

“There’s night school, but they won’t hear us if we’re quiet.” Abed tells him.

“If we get caught, who are they gonna tell? The dean?”

Abed stops, considers this, and nods. “Good point.”

He leads Troy to the study room. He tugs at the door, and then fumbles with the keyring until he finds the right one when it doesn’t open.

Troy steps into the room ahead of him as Abed flicks on the light, fingers running over the carving in the table, remembering when they built it all those years ago. There’s a pang in his heart as he looks at the two chairs in the corner, remembers his years at Greendale with his best friend.

“Hey, do you remember when-”

He turns around, and Abed is on one knee, holding out a ring.

“Holy shit.”

Abed grins, and Troy walks over to him.

“Holy shit,” he says again, but his throat is closing up and he can barely get the words out.

“Can I say it, or do you need a second?”

Troy nods. “Say it.”

“Troy Barnes, will you-”

“Yes!”

Abed stands, and Troy yanks him down into a kiss. They separate so Abed can slide the ring onto his finger with shaking hands.

“I love you,” Troy says.

Abed kisses him.

-

Troy stretches, dust floating in the air of the thin sunbeam as he blinks, trying to make sense of his surroundings. He realizes he’s in Abed’s dorm, sitting on the couch, the tv in front of him shut off. He must have fallen asleep the night before.

He looks around for Abed, and as he shifts, he hears a groan. He looks down, and sees that the blanket he thought he had been wearing is actually Abed, curled into his side.

He gives him a slight shake.

“Hey, man? I think we fell asleep.”

Abed’s head rises, slowly. He blinks, and brings a hand up to rub his eye.

“What time is it?”

Troy fumbles for his phone, and pulls it out.

“Oh, it’s only 6:30. I thought we were late for class.”

Abed nods. His hair is sticking up at all different angles, and he can barely keep his eyes open. If Troy were into dudes, he would find it insanely cute.

“I’m going back to sleep, then,” Abed says, and he leans back into Troy's side. He’s asleep in record time.

Troy tenses, but he realizes Abed isn’t moving. He could push him off, of course, but there’s no point. Plus, Abed is warm, and Troy is just as tired.

He shifts, resting his head on the back of the couch, and goes back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on [Tumblr](https://readandwritesilver.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/HOMINGPIGE0N) if you want
> 
> As always, any and all feedback is appreciated :)
> 
> Much love, Clover <3


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